Identification, molecular cloning, and preparation of antigenic hepatitis C virus genotype 4a recombinant NS2 protein

3^rd International Conference on Genomics & Pharmacogenomics

September 21-23, 2015 San Antonio, USA

Salwa F Sabet

Cairo University, Egypt

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Mol Genet Med

Abstract :

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infects around 185 million people around the world. In Egypt, HCV is number one infection estimated nationally at 14.7% and is one of the major causes of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Although new effective drugs are developing against HCV, late infection discovery and high cost of HCV therapies limit the efficacy of controlling the disease. Thus, the development and implementation of a preventive co valid vaccine is important. As NS2 protein plays a crucial role in protein-protein interactions needed for infectious HCV particle production, the aim of the present study was to clone and express NS2 of HCV genotype 4a and to investigate the protein antigenicity. Herein, we amplified NS2 DNA coding region from the Egyptian HCV4a strain ED43 that was previously inserted in PUC19 plasmid. Then, we successfully cloned, sequenced the PCR product and expressed the NS2 recombinant protein in E. coli M15 using pQE-30 vector. Antigenicity against pooled sera of Egyptian patients of the recombinant NS2 protein was confirmed by Western blotting. This study might help in the design of a vaccine against the predominant genotype 4a in the Egyptian population.

Biography :

Email: salwasabet@gmail.com